CATS is now available on Blu-Ray

[phantom39]

Posted: 9/18/13 at 4:17pm

It's a bit pricey but..finally!

"An ultimate Blu-ray edition (all regions) of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Tony Award-winning musical Cats has been released and includes bonus features with the creative team behind the long-running musical.

Cats, which was recorded in 1998, features Veerle Casteleyn, Michael Gruber, John Mills, Ken Page, Elaine Paige and John Partridge. The all-region Blu-ray promises "breathtaking visuals and the full digital sound of an 80-piece orchestra."

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ERNEJ44/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00ERNEJ44&linkCode=as2&tag=broadcaptu-20

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 9/18/13 at 4:22pm

Can't wait till he releases the 2000 JCS and notices the marked drop-off in sales compared to the 1973 film.

[phantom39]

Posted: 9/18/13 at 4:39pm

You mean this?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CSAHJFY/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00CSAHJFY&linkCode=as2&tag=broadcaptu-20

[Adam Chris]

Posted: 9/18/13 at 4:43pm

Are there any extras on the blu-ray that are not on the disk?

[phantom39]

Posted: 9/18/13 at 4:48pm

The Playbill article says "Bonus features include "Character Make-up with Karen Dawson," "Harding Making of Cats" featurette, interviews with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cameron Mackintosh, Trevor Nunn, Gillian Lynne, John Napier and Gerald Schoenfeld."

[eperkins]

Posted: 9/18/13 at 4:50pm

Cheaper to order the Blu-ray Cats from Amazon UK, rather than the US site.
Blu-ray Cats

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/18/13 at 5:25pm

I would really only be interested in this if they restored some of the footage that they filmed and then cut for the Gumbie Cat number, "Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer" and "Mr. Mistoffelees." The behind the scenes feature clearly shows the removed portion of "Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer" being rehearsed and the cuts in the Gumbie Cat dance break are quite obvious and a little distracting when she suddenly appears center stage after one cut and then four additional dancers magically appear after another.

The blu-ray seems to include no additional features that's aren't already available on the ultimate edition DVD. The HD audio and picture isn't enough of a selling point to interest me right now.

Updated On: 9/18/13 at 05:25 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/18/13 at 6:13pm

Hopefully they'll release this in the U.S. soon.

Incidentally, Joseph (Donny Osmond) is also available on Blu-ray in the UK.

Updated On: 9/18/13 at 06:13 PM

[Princeton Returns]

Posted: 9/19/13 at 1:21am

The blu ray has lots of negative comments about the quality so im not sure its worth it. It wouldnt surprise me as the Phantom 25th blu ray wasnt that great a quality

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/19/13 at 1:29am

The picture always looked a bit hazy to me anyway. Did they even film it in HD to begin with?

[darreyl102]

Posted: 9/19/13 at 1:56am

Oh how I would LOVE to see John Partridge in HD- Him in that spandex- just OMG!

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/19/13 at 6:20am

"Cats" was shot on Super 16mm film, which was a mistake. If they were going to go with film (a good idea), which was far superior to HD video back in 1998, they should have splurged for 35mm, especially with all of the low lighting used. The result is like the earlier seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on TV (also shot that way). It's very grainy with so-so depth and not a huge amount of detail.

Today, they would probably shoot it on HD video using one of the higher end cameras.

Anyway, my longwinded point is that a Blu-ray upgrade probably won't look significantly better than the DVD. At least they can do a true HD version of it, because it was shot on film (instead of video). But because it was 16mm stock, it will probably only serve to bring out the flaws in the original filming.

[phantom39]

Posted: 9/19/13 at 1:45pm

Having just looked at the Blu-Ray, it actually features a much better image than the DVD. Sure, you can't compare it to your normal HD release, but that's somewhat understandble considering the filming equipment used.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/19/13 at 3:22pm

Thanks for letting us know, TaleofTwo!

A major point to mention (which I forgot before!) is that the original DVD releases of Cats and Joseph are both 4x3 letterboxed (1.66:1 ratio). Neither one of them are "enhanced for widescreen TVs."

That means the Blu-ray releases will be the first natively formatted for 16x9, so that alone, even with a grainy image, should improve the quality over the DVD enough to get me to buy it.

I bought Joseph on Blu-ray last week, but it's an import and won't arrive for another few weeks. I found it cheap on Amazon (about $11, plus $4 "slow boat" shipping). I will report back after I check it out, but Joseph (which was also shot 16mm) won't have the problems Cats does. The sets and lighting are much brighter. The flaws really come out in lower light.